Reviews For the Bruce Lee Biopic are Out and Asians Should Be Pissed

nextshark.com/review...-asians-pissed/

[UPDATE 10-6-16 3:49 p.m. PST] Bruce Lee’s daughter issues official response condemning “Birth of the Dragon!

The early reviews for the Bruce Lee biopic “Birth of the Dragon” are out and, understandably, Bruce Lee fans are angry for burying Bruce Lee and all the other Asian characters in the background.

Audiences are pissed after seeing Bruce Lee, played by Hong Kong actor Philip Ng, depicted as a dumbed down, cocky and one-dimensional character who takes a subdued role in his own biopic in favor of a white guy.
Bruce Lee fans who were expecting a film about the Jeet Kune Do master’s earlier years in America and his legendary fight with Kung Fu master Wong Jack Man were largely disappointed. Who would’ve known a movie titled “Birth of the Dragon” would be centered on the tired White Savior Trope?”

Undeniably, Caucasian character Steve McKee is the star of the movie and audiences are to follow his adventures in learning kung fu and winning the heart of an Asian girl instead of watching Bruce Lee discover himself and develop into the legendary “dragon” that people recognize him to be.

User Bawlife calls it “Hollywood racism galore”:

“Film reduces Bruce Lee into a side character in his own story to force a white guy into the lead. Why is the main focus of the trailer on this silly white American dude? Asian males can never take the lead role. Only the sidekick even in their own movie. It is disgusting. White people, would it kill you to stop inserting yourselves into everything?

“And of course the white guy is dating the Asian girl. Can you stop socially engineer Asian girls to only see white guys as acceptable dating partner? Stop shoving this down our throat. A white guy kisses an Asian girl. Every movie. It’s like they want to brainwash us that Asian girls belong to white men. This turns into a sickening Asian fetish in real life.”

Consciouskendrik complains that the film is nothing but “a disrespectful appropriation of Bruce Lee”:

“Hollywood is racist. This movie disrespects the legacy of Bruce Lee. I highly recommend everyone to boycott this movie. The movie serves to perpetuate negative stereotypes regarding Asian women, men, and the culture.

“It’s perspective forces the viewer to indulge in racism against people of color. The racism is very subversive and is spread by more than just one movie. Movies like these are bountiful in Hollywood(denigrating Asian culture).

“I noticed a very disturbing pattern in Hollywood. They do not want Asian men in the lead role even in their own biopic.”

Nightmarephoenix is just angry:

“I never write reviews for anything, but this time I absolutely had to. THIS IS NOT A FILM. IT’S ANTI-Asian PROPAGANDA. Yellow Peril, 2016 version.

“This entire film is a carefully hidden propaganda piece that portrays Lee as some unsexual, angry, kung fu loser who accomplishes nothing.

“Meanwhile, a white guy actually stars as the main character of the movie, gets the (Asian) girl, and wins the day.

“What? What just happened? A film about Bruce Lee that ISN’T actually about Bruce? This propaganda piece focuses on stereotyping, dehumanizing, and denigrating Asians and Asian culture.

“Of course, that’s no surprise. If you google ‘kulturemedia’ , you’ll find a bunch more examples where western media wages war against Asians in this century. Highly recommend people to avoid this film, and watch ‘The slanted screen’ instead.”

For Udemypreview, the movie is trash.

“I wanted to watch a movie about the legend Bruce lee. Not another white washed movie deleting/altering/hiding his history and Again disrespecting Asians with another white male Asian female interest. Truth is movies spread lies and it hurts societies. In this case. Asian men.

“the lies that Hollywood continues to spread must be stopped. You are creating racists with everyone who watches it. Bruce lee is a legend and you are trying your best to take everything away from him and his people. When will it end? Trash.”

Other reviews reflected the same disappointment and anger toward how the movie missed the opportunity of telling a compelling biopic that is worthy of Bruce Lee’s legacy.

This largely fictionalized film was directed by writer-filmmaker George Nolfi who explained to Deadline why they decided to center the story using young Steve McKee’s character:

“The reality is, Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man did not know each other for a long period before the fight and they weren’t heavily involved with each other after the fight. From a narrative standpoint, you needed eyes on the story that would allow you to have a run up to the fight and… I don’t want to spoil what happens after the fight… but you needed that to get to our third act.”

While we are at it....

movieweb.com/mulan-r...n-whitewashing/

Hollywood's whitewashing woes may be continuing, or at least they were going to at one point or another. Recently, Disney got on seemingly everyone's good side when the confirmed that they would be releasing their live-action remake of Mulan in 2018. The celebration may be a bit short lived though, as some details from the initial script for the movie have leaked, which revealed that particular version of the movie would feature a white male lead.



A recent blog post that showed up on Angry Asian Man claims that Disney's original script for the live-action Mulan, which was titled The Legend of Mulan, centered on a "white merchant" man. Those who remember the Disney animated movie Mulan will note that the movie didn't have a white man in the lead role. Given the recent uproar that has come from whitewashing in high-profile movies, this would be understandably upsetting. Here are some of the details from the script as described in the blog post.

"The man is a 30-something European trader who initially cares only for the pleasure of women and money. The only reason why he and his entourage decide to help the Chinese Imperial Army is because he sets eyes on Mulan. That's right. Our white savior has come to the aid of Ancient China due to a classic case of Yellow Fever. In this script written by Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin, more than half of its pages are dedicated to this merchant who develops a mutual attraction with Mulan and fights to protect her in the ensuing battles. To top it all off, this man gets the honor of defeating the primary enemy of China, not Mulan. Way to steal a girl's thunder."
It is very well worth noting that The Legend of Mulan script, which was written by Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin, is not necessarily the script that Disney is going to use for their live-action Mulan. They may just use elements of it or go with an entirely different script. Either way, it is easy to understand why the author of this blog post, who remained anonymous, would be irritated. Actor Joel de la Fuente from The Man in the High Castle did corroborate the details from the blog post, saying "I can back you up on what you're saying. I confirm everything you said about that draft."

The original Mulan centered on the title character, voiced by Ming-Na Wen, who disguises herself as a man to take her ailing father's place on the battlefield. With the help of her beloved dragon sidekick Mushu, who was voiced by Eddie Murphy, Mulan becomes a brave warrior who becomes one of her country's most honored heroines. The original Mulan voice cast also included Miguel Ferrer, Harvey Fierstein, June Foray, James Hong, Pat Morita, B.D. Wong and George Takei. It most certainly did not include a bunch of white guys as the central focus.

Recent movies like Doctor Strange and Ghost in the Shell have come under heavy fire from the public over casting white people in roles that were originally intended to be Asian. Things were especially ugly in the case of Ghost in the Shell when it was revealed that some digital effects tests had been done to try and make Scarlett Johansson look more Asian. Even Matt Damon's new monster movie The Great Wall, which features a massive Asian cast and did not give away an Asian role to a white actor, came under fire just for having a white man as the central focus in the movie. It seems very unlikely that Disney would want to walk right into the line of fire with Mulan and go with the version of the script described in this recent blog post.

Mulan earned over $304 million worldwide during its theatrical release in 1998 and has become a fan favorite in the years since. Disney has been doing very well with their live-action remakes of animated classics, with Cinderella and The Jungle Book both dominating the box office, so it makes perfect sense that they would want to give Mulan the live-action treatment as well. Let's just hope they don't go the whitewashing route. Disney's new version of Mulan is set for release on November 9, 2018